Britain's costliest player has struggled to make his mark in the 12 months since his arrival at Liverpool.
The £35million man could not even make the Reds starting line-up for last weekend's draw at Stoke even though Luis Suarez is in the middle of an eight-match suspension.
Carroll is hoping to be recalled for Saturday's trip to Bolton.
However, Coyle would not welcome that news, as he still believes the England striker is a class act.
"I don't think there is any doubt he will reproduce that form," said Coyle.
"He is an outstanding young player.
"The thing is, when you get that kind of criticism you have to come through it with a smile on your face.
"It will serve him well. His quality is unquestioned. We have to make sure he doesn't show it against us."
Bolton have their own forward who has a point to prove.
David Ngog left Liverpool for Bolton in a £4million deal in August, having shown glimpses of ability without being able to reproduce it on a consistent basis.
The youngster has suffered in similar fashion at his new club too, although the settling-in process was not helped by a knee injury.
With only two goals to his name, Ngog could do with starting to find the net on a regular basis to help Bolton in their relegation fight.
Coyle has detected positive signs over the last half a dozen games.
And, faced with his old team-mates, the 22-year-old is ready to launch his Bolton career properly.
"Globally, Liverpool are an elite club," said Coyle.
"There is no shame in not being able to oust Fernando Torres and the education he got at Anfield will serve him well for the rest of his career.
"He came here for a fresh challenge and we have a lot of belief in him.
"It is up David to show he would have been worthy of being a Liverpool player. The only difference is that he has to do it for Bolton."
With goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen returning to training after a knee injury and Tyrone Mears coming through a closed-doors outing following his recovery from a broken leg he suffered before he had played a competitive game for the club, an easing to Bolton's massive injury problems is in sight even though neither man will be involved at the weekend.
Coyle will hope that triggers an improvement in chronic fortunes and on Saturday they will bid for only their second home win of the season against a club whose fortunes have slipped far below their standards in the 1980s glory years.
"It doesn't affect their status, just as it never affected Manchester United's status when they hadn't won the championship for 26 years until Sir Alex Ferguson sorted it out," said Coyle.
"Kenny Dalglish is used to winning trophies and football can change from one year to another.
"Liverpool will deem it as a long time since their last championship but in that period, they have still won trophies, including the Champions League.
"Now they are on the verge of reaching the Carling Cup final, when they would be big favourites given a team from the Championship will be the opposition.
"There is no doubt Liverpool will always be amongst the honours."
